"[4] Another music journalist noted "If you define 'blues' by the rigid categories of structure rather than the flexible language of feeling allusion, Robert Cray... Larry Garner, Joe Louis Walker and James Armstrong are a new and uncategorizable breed, their music blues-like rather than blues, each of them blending ideas and devices from a variety of sources – soul, rock, jazz, gospel – with a sophistication beyond the reach of their forerunners".

While publicly performing through his teens, he soaked up many influences (especially vocalists such as Wilson Pickett, James Brown, Bobby Womack and Otis Redding).

In these early years, Walker played with John Lee Hooker, J.J. Malone, Buddy Miles, Otis Rush, Thelonious Monk, The Soul Stirrers, Willie Dixon, Charlie Musselwhite, Steve Miller, Nick Lowe, John Mayall, Earl Hooker, Muddy Waters, and Jimi Hendrix.

He left the world of the blues and enrolled himself at San Francisco State University, achieving a degree in Music and English.

[1] After a 1985 performance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, he was inspired to return to his blues roots whereupon he formed the "Bosstalkers" and signed to the HighTone label.

This marked the beginning of an eclectic era that merged many of his gospel, jazz, soul, funk and rock influences with his trademark blues sensibilities.

Walker also spent years covering all the major western television networks (Conan O'Brien, Imus, Jools Holland UK, inauguration for George W. Bush, inducting B.B.

Walker's guest musicians on this release, included Bonnie Raitt, Buddy Guy, Taj Mahal, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Otis Rush, Scotty Moore, Robert Lockwood, Jr., Matt "Guitar" Murphy, Steve Cropper, Tower of Power, and Ike Turner.

This album featured Kevin Eubanks as a special guest, best known for his work as the musical director for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

The Chicago Sun-Times said: "Hard rock to gospel, Hornet's Nest is proudly modern, designed to rest comfortably alongside anything from the Black Keys or Jack White.

In an interview with PatchChord News in early December he shared his philosophy about music, saying "Don't be afraid to add other cultures into your sound.